JOHF

REV. J. ELDER
CUMMING, D.D.

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JOHN:

THE BAPTIST

FORERUNNER

AND MARTYR

MONTHLY Is, NETT

Edited by Ri5V. Evan H. Hopkins

The First Series will consist of the following

1 FROM CALVARY TO PENTECOST

Rev. F. B. Meyer

2 / FOLLOW AFTER

Rev. Pkebendaky Weeb-Peploe

3 HIDDEN, YET POSSESSED

Rev. Evan H. Hopkins

4 THEY MIGHT BE Rev. Hubert Brooke

5 VICTORY THROUGH THE NAME

Rev. C. A. Fox

6 A HOLY LIFE Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor

7 THE LIFE OF FELLOWSHIP

Rev. E. W. Moore

8 JOHN: THE BAPTIST, FORERUNNER AND

MARTYR Rev. Dr. Elder Gumming

9 ''REALITY" Dr. Wrenford

10 "INSTEAD" ; OR, TRANSFORMATION OF

GRACE Miss Nugent

11 THINGS THAT CANNOT BE SHAKEN

Rev. G. G. Moore

12 LIFTED LOADS Miss Lucy Bennett

To be followed by Volumes from Revs. F. S. Webster,
W. Houghton, Mrs. Bannister, Rev. G. Inwood, etc.

Marsham. Brothers, Keswick House, Paternoster Row

€ht SesiMttfe liOrai-p

John: the Baptist
Forerunner

.'i lit

& Martyr /^^^^^

MAY 11

By the Rev J Elder Cumming DD

Author of "Through the Eternal Spirit" "Holy
Men of God" Etc Etc

LONDON MARSHALL
BROTHERS KESWICK
HOUSE PATERNOSTER
ROW

CONTENTS

List of Passages in the Gospels

CONCERNING JOHN ....

6

JosEPHUs' Account of the Baptist

6

I

Time and Place ....

7

2

Birth and Parentage

13

3

Training

24

4

Early Preaching ....

34

5

The Three Interviews with Christ

46

6

Later Teaching ....

58

7

Imprisonment

70

8

Doubt

79

9

Martyrdom

^'^

o

Character and Position .

97

I

Sources and Subsequent Influence

of his Teaching ....

104

LIST OF PASSAGES IN THE GOSPELS CON-
CERNING JOHN THE BAPTIST.

In St. Matt.

In St. Mark.

/« St. Luke.

/« ^/. /^/i«.

Ch. Ver.

Ch. \-er.

Ch. \-cr.

Ch. \'er.

3- i-i6-

1. 2-10, 14,

I- 5-25, 57-

I. 6-8. 15-

^^"

80.

37.

II. 1-19.

6. 14-29.

3. 1-22.

3- 23-27.

14. 1-12.

8. 23.

7- iS-35.

5- 3.^^-35-

16. 14-

9. 12, 13-

9. 7-9. 19-

10. 40, 41.

17. 12.

20. 4-6.

JOSEPHUS' ACCOUNT OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

*•' Antiquities of the Jews" book xviii., chap, s, § 2
( Whistons T)-anslation).

Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of
Herod's army came from God. and that very justly, as a
punishment of what he did against John that was called
the Baptist ; for Herod slew him, who was a good man,
and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to
righteousness towards one another and piety towards God,
and so to come to baptism, for that the washing would be
acceptable to Him if they made use of it, not in order to
the putting away of some sins, but for the purification of
the body, supposing still that the soul was thoroughly puri-
fied beforehand by righteousness. Now when others
came in crowds about him — for they were greatly moved by
hearing his words — Herod, who feared lest the great in-
fluence which John had over the people might put it into
his power and inclination to raise a rebellion (for thev
seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thouglit it
best, by putting him to death, to prevent anj' mischief he
might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by spar-
ing a man who might make him repent of it when it should
be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of
Herod's suspicious temper, to Machaerus, the cattle I have
before mentioned, and put to death.

JOHN: THE BAPTIST,
FORERUNNER, AND MARTYR

V->^P I THE TIME AND PLACE

'^Make ready the zvay of the Z^r<^."— St. Mark
i. 4.

UPWARDS of four hundred years had
passed since the last prophet of
Israel had carried to the people a message
concerning God. A race of prophets had
never been wanting before since Moses
received his message at Horeb ; and, in-
deed, taking the word in a larger sense,
the Patriarchs themselves had been pro-
phets of God. Sometimes a generation
had passed without such a messenger, but
no fewer than fourteen generations had
7

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

now gone since God's voice had been
heard.

Other considerations had concurred to
reduce Israel to a low and despondent
state. After the return from Baby'on,
there had been governors exercising more
or less authority ; there had passed across
Palestine the shadow of the great Mace-
donian power ; there had stalked through
it the barbaric splendour of the Syrian
monarchs ; and there had been heard the
tread of the Roman hosts and the clash
of the Roman arms. There had come the
stormy times of the Maccabees, in which
Judsean soldiers, led by native chiefs, had
matched their prowess with the con-
querors of the world. Their names are
still famous, but their courage and blood-
shed were in vain ; and now an Asmonean
dynasty professing to belong to them-
selves, but with a broken genealogy and
no true national spirit, was reigning under
the sanction and obedient to the dictates
of the Emperor of Rome.

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

These things made a break with the
great historic past of Israel, and they
paved the way for still greater changes.
In what relation did Israel now stand
with reference to God ? It is difficult to
conceive what answer the priests and
people would have given to this question.
But it is obvious that they no longer
heard or expected to hear the voice of
God from day to day as in the times of
old. Their national faith had almost
become part of a bygone history. God
seemed as silent to them and almost as
far away as to the nations of modern
times.

One thin^, however, still suryived, and
could not be forgotten, even amid Roman
oppression and the strife of contending
parties : that there had been given to
Israel of old the promise of the Messiah.
It was the solitary light that continued to
burn, breaking the obscurity and cheering
the heart of the faithful Jew. Beautiful
and sacred passages rang in his ears every
9

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

sabbath, which had never been fulfilled,
declaring the advent of the hope of Israel,
to which the faithfulness of God was
pledged. And just as the morning star
precedes the da)% there was a second
promise that ^e_Messiah came, a mes-
s£.nger or prophet should come like a
herald, to blow the trumpet and proclaim.
His advent. There were not, perhaps,
many in Israel who, in the midst of the
national distress, w^ere waiting for the
consolation. There were fewer still who,
in that early sunrise, were already awake
and watching for the Daystar in the
East.

There was, however, a remarkable and
general expectation in Israel and over all
the East, which even reached the confines
of Rome, and is still preserved in its lite-
rature, that ancient prophecy was about
to be fulfilled in a new Messianic age.
Chaldcean sages were consulting the stars ;
the Sibylline books were recording as in
oracles, and at least one great Roman

FORERU.YA'EK AND MARTYR

poet was writing in imperishable verse,
this beautiful and universal hope of hu-
manity. Traceable perhaps to the pages
of the prophet Daniel, which fixed the
time by certain obscure measurements,
and which by means of Alexandrian cul-
ture had become known to the reading
world, there had spread the expectation
not merely of a coming Prince, but that
He was nearly due. Amid the conflicts
of arms and of parties, political and eccle-
siastical, this floating expectation main-
tained its place in the hearts of those who
were living for heavenly things. In
Judaea especially, within the precincts of
the sanctuary of God, recently adorned
and beautified by Herod the king, there
was a band of holy men and women who
lived in the hope that their eyes should
see the King. They remembered the
strain of the prophet Haggai, and looked
for the Desire of all nations to glorify the
very building of which the foundation-
stone had been laid with mingled tears

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

and shouts of joy. There were priests at
the altar who offered their sacrifices in
hope of the Advent ; and there were holy
women who prayed that they might wit-
ness the Lord's Anointed.

It was to a people in these circum-
stances that the news was suddenly
brought that a new prophet of Cxod had
been heard. And when inquiry was
made, a singular and impressive story was
told to all who cared to hear.

/

t

12

r^ _ HIS BIRTH AND

FA RENTAGE

Uap

2

'^ Zacharias, thy prayer is heai-d." — St. Luke
i. 13-

AMONG the prophets of Israel there
were two who foretold not merely
the coming of Messiah, but also the pre-
vious coming of one who was to be a sign
and testimony that the Lord was near.

The closing words of the Old Testa-
ment must surely have prevented any
diligent student of its pages from over-
looking or forgetting such a prediction.
Here they are : " Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the great and
terrible day of the Lord come ; and he
shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the
13

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

earth with a curse" (Mai. iv. 5, 6). The
obscurity of this prediction, due to the
fact that it embraces both the first and
second advents of the Messiah, was made
plain to those who heard it by the be-
ginning of the third chapter of the same
book : " Behold, I send My messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before Me :
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall sud-
denly come to His temple ; and the
Messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in, behold He cometh, saith the
Lord of hosts." So spake the last of the
ancient prophets of Israel four hundred
years before the event predicted by him ;
taking up and prolonging the strain of the
great Messianic prophet Isaiah, and using
some of the same words which he em-
ployed : " Comfort ye, comfort ye, My
people, saith your God ; . . . the voice
of one that crieth, Prepare ye in the
wilderness the way of the Lord : make
straight in the desert a highway for our
God. . . . And the glory of the Lord
14

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it."

These words were uttered seven hun-
dred years before the birth of Christ.
We have express New Testament
authority for referring them to John the
Baptist. " This is he that was spoken of
by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of
one crying in the wilderness, Make ye
ready the way of the Lord ; make His
paths straight" (St. Matt. iii. 3). "Yea,
and thou, child, shalt be called the prophet
of the Most High, for thou shalt go before
the face of the Lord to make ready His
ways " (St. Luke i. 76). And in St. Matt,
xi. 14 we have the language of the Lord
Himself, " If ye are willing to receive it,
this is Elijah, which was to come. He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Predicted by ancient prophets, the birth

of the messenger is in due time announced

by an angel ; and not only by an ordinary

angel, but by the same who is commis-

15

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

sioned to announce the Messiah Himself,
one who says of his own name and posi-
tion, " I am Gabriel, that stand in the
presence of God, and I was sent to speak
unto thee and to bring thee these good
tidings." The angel not merely announces
the birth of the child, but gives orders
from heaven as to the name by which he
is to be known. This is an honour which
the child receives in common with only
five of the men of Scripture, the others
being our Lord Himself, Ishmael, Isaac,
Josiah, and the son of Isaiah.

The father of the Baptist was Zacharias,
a priest descended from Eleazar and of
the order of Abijah. David had divided
the priests into twenty-four courses, of
which that of Abijah was the eighth.
Each of these courses discharged the
priests' duty in the Temple for one week
at a time, and the priests connected with
it came up to Jerusalem from their Levi-
tical cities for the purpose of doing so.
Some of the courses, in the time of Herod,
16

FORERUN.NEK AND MARTYR

are said to have contained thousands of
priests ; and their visit to Jerusalem for
their sacred week explains for us the
multitude of priests who had the oppor-
tunity of hearing the Lord in the holy
city, and also the number of those who
are mentioned in the Gospel narratives in
other parts of the country.

From the priests who had come up to
Jerusalem in their course, one was selected
by lot to perform the duty of offering the
incense upon the golden altar. Many of
the priests never attained to this honour ;
and almost no one received it more than
once. It was, therefore, a great event in
the Hfe of a man when the lot was cast
in his favour ; and popular belief and tra-
dition among the Jews regarded it as the
occasion of Divine communications made
to men in days gone by.

The scene was sufficiently striking to

merit description. Four courts surrounded

the Temple : one for the proselytes on the

outside, the next one for the women, a third

I? ij

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

for the men of Israel, and the innermost
of all for the priests. High on its rocky
platform, the holy and beautiful house of
God rose above these courts, seen by the
worshippers in all. They were nearly full
of those who at the evening hour had
come to pray ; and when the priest, clad
in white, with covered head but uncovered
feet, turned to go into the sanctuary, it is
said that the people all fell prostrate on
their faces, and so continued till the priest
appeared again at the door of the Temple
and blessed them in the name of the Lord.
When Zacharias then left the people on
their faces, and went in to offer incense
upon the golden altar that was in the holy
place before the veil, " there appeared
unto him an angel of the Lord, standing
on the right side of the altar of incense "
(St. Luke i. ii).

It was indeed a messenger bearing to

him a special announcement from God.

A child was to be born to him in his old

age, in answer to his prayer. Six things

i'6

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

are told him regarding the child : (i)
many were to rejoice at his birth; (2) he
was to be great in the sight of the Lord ;

(3) he was to be a Nazarite from his birth,
drinking neither wine nor strong drink ;

(4) he was to be filled with the Holy
Ghost, even from his mother's womb ; (5)
he was to turn many of the children of
Israel unto the Lord their God ; (6) he
was to go before the face of the Lord in
the spirit and power of Elijah, " to turn "
(as Malachi said) "the hearts of the fathers
to the children," and he was to make
ready (as Isaiah had said) " for the Lord
a people prepared for Him." Such was
the message from heaven. Never had
the priest's name been so appropriate :
Zacharias was indeed remejiibered of God.
But the announcement was too wonderful.
Was it strange that his faith for a moment •
wavered, and that he met the angel's
message with the expression of doubt, if not
incredulity? It was the story of Abraham
again, and the birth of John made parallel

19

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

with that of Isaac. "Whereby shall I
know this?" was the question, "for I am
an old man, and my wife well stricken in
years." The characteristic answer was,
" I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence
of God, and I was sent unto thee to bring
thee these good tidings." It was the first
time that his word had been doubted.
Now then a miracle must be done to
prove a prophecy. " Behold, thou shalt
be silent, and not able to speak, until the
day that these things shall come to pass,
because thou believedst not my words,
which shall be fulfilled in their season."
So the new revelation of God to Israel
opens with the appearance of an angel
and a message from God ; and it is met
by unbelief on the part of man. Is it not
in embryo the story of the Gospel from
the beginning to the end ?

The time of the vision and interview
with the angel Gabriel had been some-
what protracted ; and the great company
of priests and other worshippers gathered

3Q

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

in the Temple courts, had waited in impa-
tience for the reappearance of Zacharias.
Till he returned, their worship was not
complete, and they were not at liberty to
go. At length the old man staggered
out beyond the threshold of the Temple
ill evident excitement, and began to make
signs to the people, laying one hand upon
his mouth and beckoning with the other
now to the holy place and now to heaven.
As they crowded round to know what he
meant, they discovered, to their infinite
surprise, that he was dumb ; and at length
(in what way we know not) they awoke to
the fact that he had seen an angel of the
Lord. On his arrival at his temporary
lodging (probably in one of the chambers
allotted to the priests), he would make
known in writing on such a tablet as is
spoken of afterwards (St. Luke i. 6:^^) the
story of what had happened. His wife
Elizabeth apparently was not in Jerusalem
with him, but in the hill-country of Ju-
daea, in a city of Judah, or perhaps in

21

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

Juttah^ south of Hebron, which is sup-
posed to have been their residence. She
was herself a descendant of Aaron, and
had received a name which signifies the
oath of my God. She apparently had no
difficulty in accepting the promise of God ;
and the only utterances v/hich fall from
her lips in the Gospel are those of genuine,
heartfelt, and almost ecstatic praise.
Sarah no longer instigates Abraham to
disbelieve ; she is foremost in faith. With
Divine wisdom, taught her by the Spirit
of God, she seems at once to understand
the position and office which her son was
to hold in accordance with ancient pro-
phecy. Both father and motlier are filled
with the Holy Ghost ; the father is poet
and psalmist also ; they are both obedi-
ent to the word of the Lord, and, in the
face of the opposition of relatives, they
crave to their child the name that was
appointed in heaven, and called him John.
The word is probably the Hebrewyi;;^/^,
well known as borne by one great pro-

22

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

phet of the past ; if so, it means the dove.
If the word /oh?t be a distinct and sepa-
rate word, it was a name unknown to the
Jews, and is supposed to signify the gift of
Jehovah. Already there seems to be in
the name itself an indication that he be-
longs neither to the past nor the future,
but is a solitary link between the two.

The closing portion of this wonderful
first chapter of St. Luke contains the in-
spired song of Elizabeth and the prophetic
song of Zacharias.

23

Cs^P ;5 ins training

""Strong in spirit.''' —St. Luke i. So.

WHAT sort of preparation did God
give His servant John ? St.
Luke says (i. So), " The child grew and
waxed strong in spirit, and was in the
deserts till the day of his showing unto
Israel " — a pregnant verse, which speaks
of growth^ strength^ solitude^ and ina?:ifcs-
tation.

Be it remembered from the first that
John was a descendant of Aaron, and that
his education necessarily had in view his
being fitted to become a i^riest of Gad.
He must have been taught therefore a
full knowledge of the Levitical law and
its strict observance. In describing his
parents, the Evangelist speaks not only of
24

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

their keeping the commandments, but
also " all the ordinances of the law." The
influence of such knov/ledge on his youth-
ful mind must have been great. The
Levitical law to an unspiritual mind was,
and is still, meaningless and forbidding ;
but all earnest Christians who have made
it a study know how full it is of the
deepest secrets of God.^ The child of
Zacharias would come to know something
of its meaning, and would see how to
humble and holy hearts it glowed .with
Divine light. May we not picture to
ourselves the parents and the child
talking over it together ? Nor let it be
forgotten how much the nevv' message
from heaven v/ould give fresh light to
the sacred page in that house in the hill-
country. Not only Isaiah and Malachi,
who spoke of John himself, whose every
verse referring to him would be imprinted

^ See Mrs. Singe's remarkable book on the
"Five Great Offerings of the Law " (London :
Marshall Bros.).

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

on his memory as soon as he could read,
but almost every part of the Scripture
given by inspiration of God, would gain in
meaning when studied in the light of the
coming Messiah, of whom John was the
messenger.

We have spoken of the teaching and
influence of the parents, yet it is hardly
possible that they could have been spared
to see more than the very first fruits of
their child's development. It is the
penalty paid by the " child of old age " to
become soon an orphan ; and we must
assume that such a trial came early to the
child of Zacharias and Elizabeth. It was
the beginning of the solitude which went
on deepening in his life.

He was from the first a Nazarite, as the
angel had directed. It is true that only
a part of the vow detailed in Num. vi.
is specified with regard to him ; but it
must be conceded that the part here in-
cludes the whole. And a very signifi-
cant thing this vow of the Nazarite was.
26

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

It included abstinence from all wine and
strong drink ; it allowed the hair to con-
tinue uncut ; and it scrupulously avoided
all uncleanness from coming in contact
with the dead. These details embodied
one grand thought : entire separation unto
God, at whatever cost of pleasure, outward
peculiarity, and the loss of family affection.
The vow was usually taken only for a
short period of weeks or months. The
chapter describing it does not contem-
plate a lifelong vow, which was probably
deemed too high a level to be aimed at.
Only three men in Scripture are recorded
to have undertaken a perpetual vow of the
kind ; these are Samson (who broke it.
Judges xvi. 14, 19), Samuel the prophet,
and John, the greatest of the three. In
this he found the key-note of life; he was
willing to be " separated untqJLJis.Lord.''
But there was a further development in
the training of John. He spent a life of
self-denial, ever deepening as he went on.
This was conspicuous in his home, his
27

JOmr. THE BAPTIST

food, his dress, and the model or example
of his life. '•^ He was in the deserts until
the day of his showing unto IsraeL^^ I take
this to mean that at a certain period of
his life he ceased to live in the city of his
birth, and took up his abode in the wil-
derness itself. This must have been
shortly after his parents died, and at
a very early period of his manhood. If
the accounts of that wilderness are to be
trusted, it was the type of wild desolation.
" One may travel all day and see no other
life than the desert partridge or a chance
fox or vulture. The Hebrews fitly call it
Jeshinion, the appalling desolation or
horror." 1 This wilderness of Judfea must
have been an awful solitude when the
Baptist lived in it, and was possibly
the scene of the Lord's temptation, when,
as St. Mark tells us (i. 13), it was
haunted by wild beasts. In some cave of
this vast desert region, near a well of

^ Dr. Geikie's "Life of Christ," vol. i., p. 71,
where the full description may he consulted.
2S

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

water, John seems to have made for a
time liis abode. " His meat was locusts
and wild honey " (St. Matt. iii. 4).
This is the locust insect, not the bean of
the locust tree. By the Levitical law
(Lev. xi. 22) the insect was a food per-
mitted to the Jew, not unclean, but the
food only of the very poor. The traveller
Burckhardt says, *' All the Bedawin of
Arabia and the inhabitants of towns in
Nejd and Hedjaz are accustomed to eat
locusts. In Egypt and Nubia they are
only eaten by the poorest beggars. ' Wild
honey' is found plentifully in all that
region, and is part of the Arabs' food."
Throughout Scripture it is often men-
tioned. ^ " Locusts and wild honey,"
with the " water of the well " — these
v/ere the food of John during his abode
in the deserts.

He had his raiment of camel's hair (St.
Matt. iii. 4). The coarse tufted hair of the

^ See Jonallian's case (i Sam. xiv. 7),
Issachar's (Deut. xxxii. 13}, and Israel's promise
(Ps. Ixx.xi. 16),

89

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

camel is woven into a rough, thick gar-
ment by the Arab women. It is the
covering of tents, and sometimes the
cloak of the poor. Canon Tristram
("Natural History of Bible," p. 66) says,
"It is very harsh and rough to the
touch, and thus his dress was in accord-
ance with the austerity of the rest of the
Baptist's mode of life." Something like
this had been the prophets' dress in
ancient time : the famous mantle of
Elijah was one of hair, bound with a
leathern girdle about the loins (i Kings i.
8) ; and one mark of a prophet in the
days of Zechariah was the rough garment
which he wore (xiii. 4).

If it be asked why John adopted this
austere manner of life, it must be remem-
bered that he set Eh'jah before him as the
model and exemplar of his life. For all
these outward austerities John had Eli-
jah's example, the thought of whom seems
never to have been long absent from him.

But there is no doubt a deeper secret
30

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

here, which we must not miss. The
Scripture thought which lies beneath all
fasting and austerity in God's servants is
that of overwhelming sorrow, which takes
away the taste for the pleasures and com-
forts of life. And the thought in the
power of which John lived was deep
conviction of the sin of Israel in the
sight of God and their total want of
prejDaration for the coming of Messiah.
He was at hand, even at -the door ; He
would find them utterly unready to re-
ceive Him ; and what would befall Israel
then ? It was that which drov;e John
into the solitudes and the austerities of
his desert life.

So, alone, an orphan, brotherless, with
no nearer kin than the Son of Mary, John
lived. There are traces of early partial
intercourse between the two — the Naza-
rite and the Nazarene — in John's testi-
mony at Jordan, " I have need to be
baptized of Thee." But such meetings
must have been few and short ; and in

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

his solitude the lad who was "waxing
strong in spirit " sought refuge where
Elijah had met his greatest revelations.
For years John fed his strong soul on
silent intercourse with God and God's
word. In the desert, like Moses and
yet unlike him, the son of Zacharias
lived. John, who never entered the world,
turned away from it from the first, and
found God enough to people the wilder-
ness with holy thoughts. In the desert,
like Elijah, he heard the still, small voice,
not once, but every day. For him God
was in the tempest and in the earth-
quake, in the blazing heaven and the
starlit night. Where nature Avas most
rugged God was near, and where it was
silent Fie was speaking. Independent of
human aid or wisdom, he trusted in no
arm of flesh. Thus he learnt to be fear-
less of danger and resolute of purpose,
carrying his life in his hand because
God was holding it in His. Feeding on
the sacred book, which is everywhere

^ORERU^'^^ER and martyr

traceable in his words, he grew wise
unto salvation : — behind, the facts of his
birth and youth, the angelic vision, the
message of Gabriel, his mother's song,
and his father's prophecy ; within, the
fulness of the Spirit, a perpetual Teacher
and a Divine Guide ; before, his short
and unknown life. Thus, not impatiently,
he waited in the desert till the time of his
" showing unto Israel."

In all this there were three secrets, on
which the men of the present day would
do well to muse.

1. He had rejiounced...SC;lf and the
world. The world had given him no-
thing ; he possessed nothing in it ; he
hoped nothing from it.

2. He dv.'elt with God in constant
communion, shutting out other sources
of interest and strength, finding God
enough here, as He would be after death.

3. He waited for the appearance of
Messiah, whom he was to_prepare.for^.aiTd.
announce.

33 c

Cap 4

HIS EARLY r RE ACHING
*' The voice.''^ — St. Mark i. 3.

NOTHING is more striking about
John than the abruptness with
which he is introduced in the sacred page.
"In those days came John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of Jud^sa, and
saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of
hiCaven is at hand." So reads the be-
ginning of the third chapter of St. Mat-
thew. Not a word to tell us who John
was, or why he was called the Baptist, or
how he became a preacher, but as if
the Evangelist desired to emphasize his
relation to Elijah, who appears in an
equally abrupt manner in the first book of
Kings !

The position given to John and his
34

FORERUNNER. AND MARTYR

ministry is also most striking. It is one
of the few things recorded in all four
Gospels at considerable length. With the
exception of the genealogy by St. Matthew,
and the visit of the Magi, and the birth of
Christ, it is the very first thing told us,
arresting our attention from the begin-
ning.

And the character of the message put
into John's mouth completes the em-
phasis, standing, as it does, almost alone
among the teachings of Holy Writ.

The burden of the sin of Israel lies
upon his heart, excites his indignation,
and calls forth his solemn note of warning,
" Repent ye." It is a denunciation of
sin ; he finds it everywhere, in every class,
from the highest to the lowest ; he sees it
as no one else in that generation has
done : and, if he stands alone, he will
denounce it.

He begins on the border of the wilder-
ness. He does not seek men out. He
does not need to do so. They come to
35

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

him flocking round, for there is enough
about him, in his look, his dress, his
manner, his message, to tell men that this
is something real, and to compel them
both to come and listen.

His message is "Repent." It is practi-
cally a new one. There is much in the
Old Testament about sin and turning
from sin, but here is a new word, the
word repent^ which afterwards becomes
very familiar. It is common enough in
our authorised version of the Old Testa-
ment, where it is chiefly used concerning
God Himself. Six or seven times it is
employed there for a man turning from
his sin.-^ But practical repentance is a
New Testament doctrine, first taught by
the Baptist. He who needs a new word
has found some thought which is suffici-
ently new to force a new expression. It

^ See Prov. xiv. 15, where the Greek is used.
In Job xlii. 6 the Hebrew word is found, but
not the Greek word w-hich the New Testament
employs.

36

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

is as when a new man needs a new
name. And this first word of the Baptist
has introduced a new term into theology,
of which the New Testament is full. The
thought contained in the word is a call
to a total change of mind about one's
own sin, for the first time understanding
it, for the first time hating it, for the first
time renouncing it. John denounces the
sin of the people.

And he does so not in vague general
terms, as if dealing with an abstraction
and part of a system of thought ; but all
who come to him receive a separate
warning, till they expect it in future,
and put themselves in the vray of it, and
ask for it if they do not find it (see
St. Luke iv. 10-14). The Spirit of God
is at work in the first words of John,
convicting men of sin, till they come
asking whether they have done what is
wrong. And this man who has lived in
the wilderness, and might have known
nothing of the state of the people, is able
37

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

to point out to one after the other how
they have disobeyed and offended God.
All classes gather about him, from the
highest to the lowest, the good and the
bad, the respected and the despised.
Publicans come there bearing their re-
proach, and he tells them of their exaction,
their covetousness, their cheating and
oppression of the people. Soldiers come
asking what they are to do to get right
with God, probably the rough soldiers
of Herod, Jewish men, not Romans, and
he tells them of their violence, their
extortion, and their discontent. But
Pharisees and Sadducees also come in
their pride of place and character, rever-
enced of the people, men of influence in
Israel, themselves teachers of the Law,
and he tells them that they are vipers like
their fathers. He asks what they mean
by coming to him, and who have sent
them to flee from the wrath to come?
At length a great multitude gathers about
his steps ; the wilderness is no longer
3S

FORERUNA'ER AND MARTYR

solitary ; throngs have come from every
city and village round, and he tells them
all that they are taking shelter in the fact
of their descent from Abraham, while
they are despising the teaching of Abra-
ham's God. And now, he says, the
generations of Israel, from father to son,
have trifled with their privileges and
responsibihties, and God will bear it no
longer. " The woodman has gone forth
with his axe into the forest, the trees are
marked for destruction, and every fruitless
tree shall be hewn down and cast into the
fire.

Yes ; for a crisis has come, and that is
why John has been sent. " Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Again it is a new phrase, with a new
thought behind it. There are indications
in the Old Testament, many a time and
oft repeated, ,that God is the King of all
the earth, and that Israel is the kingdom
of God. There is in Zechariah and
elsewhere the picture of the heavenly
59

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

King coming to His people, riding into
His capital, bringing salvation ; there
is in Daniel the prophet the prediction
that in days to come God would set up a
kingdom on the earth. But here is
something more definite, more spiritual,
more immediate. A new King who is
about to appear, a new kingdom to be
now set up, time, place, circumstances,
are all fixed ; and this man in the camel's
hair, lifting up his voice in the awful
wilderness, is the herald who has come
one week before crying, " Prepare ye the
way of the King." " The kingdom of
heaven " ! it is the word that is never
absent from the Lord's own lips ; it is
the word that rings through every page
of the four Gospels ; it is the offer to
humanity of a new Sovereign and a new
dominion, v/hich they rejected ; and the
setting up of the kingdom has been post-
poned even until now. But John heard
the noise of the chariot wheels when he
announced that the King was at hand.

43

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

Repentance in the view of the kingdom
of heaven ! It was to be real repentance ;
a repentance that gave up the sin that it
was sorry for ; a repentance that passed
from sin to God ; a repentance that
brought forgiveness, and that issued in a
new hfe. It was a repentance tliat made
from the first, open confession, and was
not ashamed of itself. And hence John,
withdrawing to that part of the wilder-
ness where Jordan rolled, preached
from its banks that he might baptize.
Here is a third new thing : Baptism.
There had been in Israel from the days
of Moses the baptism of cups and vessels
for the removal of uncleanness and the
preparing of such vessels for the service of
God. There had also crept into Israel,
not commanded by the Law, but intro-
duced by the instincts of the people, a
washing of proselytes when they came to
be received in Israel, as if the filth of
heathenism which had gathered about
them needed to be cleansed away before
41

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

they could present themselves in the
sanctuary of Israel. There had been the
cleanshig of the leper by the ordinance of
the law, who was to wash his clothes,
and bathe his flesh in water, and be un-
clean until the even. Ere the priests sacri-
ficed in the Temple they had to wash their
hands and feet in water beside the laver
of brass which stood in the court. But
the thought that a Jew, a son of Abraham,
circumcised the eighth day, one who had
eaten the Passover, who had observed the
feast and was ceremonially clean — that he
needed to be washed, and must be washed
before God would accept him : this was a
new thought, unknown to Israel and
taught them first by John. It, too,
received the new name oi Baptism^^ a sign
and outward symbol of that repentance

^ Only twice used in the Septuagint Greek
[2 Kings V. 14), of tlie washing of the leper
Naaman, and once, Isa. xxi. 4. Does the passage
St. John iii. 25 refer to a dispute wuth the Jews
as to llie need of baptism for the Jew ?
42

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

which John preached, called " the baptism
of repentance " ; and the name and the
rite so introduced have been hallowed by
the acceptance of the Lord Himself when
He instituted it as one of the sacraments
of the Church of God. Nor must we sup-
pose that it was from the brain of John
alone that such a thing sprang. He him-
self tells us that in nothing he was his
own master, that nothing was done of
himself, but that God sent him to baptize
as well as to preach. What part of the
Jordan was visited by John and by the
multitudes who followed him is uncertain.
The name given is Bethabara, or, as some
say it should read, Bethania, and another
place is Enon, near Salim, chosen
because there was much water there.
But whether these places were near the
ford of Jordan, close to Jericho, or
whether they were a short distance south
of the Sea of Galilee, we do not posi-
tively know. The one site is recom-
mended by the neighbourhood of Jeru-
43

JOHN, THE BAPTIST

salem, from which the multitude of priests
and Pharisees might readily proceed to
hear him ; the other site is no less recom-
mended by its neighbourhood to Beth-
saida and to Cana of Galilee. We must
be content to leave the matter in the doubt
in which Scripture leaves many of these
questions of locahty. Nor can we press
the much water which was there into the
service of one mode of baptism, whether
immersion, or sprinkling, or pouring out,
especially in view of the scarcity of water
at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
But gathering up into one this early
teaching of John, the son of Zacharias,
we note and emphasize its threefold
meaning : (i) a solemn denunciation of
the sin of each man that listened to him ;

(2) a solemn warning to repent of that
sin that he might be forgiven of God ; and

(3) the trumpet-note proclaiming that
the crisis of Israel had come, and that the
chariot of the King was at hand.

Are we not now in a somewhat similar
•;4

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

position? Has no trumpet-voice gone
forth from God, warning us that the great
crisis is close at hand, and that the Lord
long promised is at the door ? The ears
are deaf which have not heard it, and the
hearts are dull which do not understand.
Christ's second coming may almost be as
near us as was His first to the day of
John the Baptist.

4S

Cap 5^

HIS THREE INTERVIEWS
WITH JESUS

^' He sceth Jcsiis.''^—St. John i. 29.

FIRST, let us ask how we are sure that
there were three, and that they did
not even occur on successive days at the
same season ?

Now the answer to these questions is,
that the first interview, when Jesus was
baptized, was immediately followed by
the temptation in the wilderness, which
lasted forty days. The second and third
interviews (at which John pointed Him
out to his disciples) took place (St. John i.
43) immediately before Jesus went forth
into Galilee.^ The temptation of forty

^ Note that in St. John i. 35 "the next day after"
is not the day after John Baptist " saw," but after
46

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

days, therefore, and possibly a week or
two more happened between the first in-
terview and the other two.

That there was some previous personal
knowledge of Jesus on the part of John
was inevitable. With the usual reserve
of Scripture, we are not told of any meet-
ings between them in early youth, but
considering the relationship of the two
mothers and the whole extraordinary cir-
cumstances of the births of the two
children, we cannot suppose it possible
that they did not meet more than once
in boyhood and in the course of thirty
years. They lived at only two or three
days' distance from each other, and once.,
a year were bound to go to Jerusalem,
which reduced the distance to a few miles.
We must also bear in mind that what had
happened before and after the birth of

liis testimony given of it (ver. 29), and that, again,
is dated, not from the baptism of Christ, but
(ver. 19) from the deputation of the priests and
his declaration to them.

47

JOHN: THE. BAPTIST

both would be a frequent subject of medi-
tation and of solemn talk over what was
to come in future years. Traces of this
personal knowledge are visible in the
recognition which took place at the first
interview; and when John says, "I knew
Him not" (St. John i. -^i), he does not
refer to personal acquaintance with Him
as a relative, but means that he did not
know Him to be the chosen One of God
for whom he was waiting.

John was preaching and baptizing on
the banks of Jordan. The great crowd,
composed of all classes, had as usual
gathered round him, and he, in his fervent
way, had exhorted them one by one as
they were baptized, when, lo ! there came
to the front a INIan still young, slightly
younger than John himself. There was
in His manner something at once to
attract attention. According to very early
tradition. He was unlike the Jewish type
of man, and hence the more noteworthy :
fair hair, parted in the middle, flowing
4S

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

in wavy locks down to either shoulder; a
fresh, fair complexion, with bright blue
eye; peace and dignity seated side by
side upon His countenance, and a mien
quiet, meek, yet kingly. Coming to the
front. He asked to be baptized like the
rest. John, so stern and commanding in
his speech to others, immediately bowed
low befor e the Stranger, and said to Him
" I have need to be baptized of Thee, and
comest Thou to me ? " The answer
returned to him was, " Suffer it to be so
now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness " (St. Matt. iii. 15). The
sacred rite was then performed, and when
it was done Jesus knelt upon the bank
in prayer ; and then in His own sight and
that of John there took place a marvel.
We are not told whether it was open to
the view of all the multitude, and we
make no conjecture upon the subject.
The heavens were cleft asunder as by a
stroke, as if one could see far upwards
towards the throne of God, and from
49 I)

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

their height there came a mystic voice,
clear, thrilUng, solemn, " Thou art ]\Iy
beloved Son ; in Thee I am well pleased."
At the same moment a white something
seemed to flutter down the sky, and as it
approached through the clear air was
observed to be a white and stainless dove,
which passed downwards till it rested with
folded wing upon the head of Jesus.
John "saw the Spirit descending like a
dove and lighting upon Him " (St. Matt,
iii. i6).

This first interview at the baptism of
Jesus becomes a turning-point not only
in the story of the Baptist, but in that of
the Lord Himself. The question may
well be asked how the Lord Jesus could
submit to the baptism of repentance,
which implied the need of being purged
from sin, and was accompanied generally
by the confession of sin. The answer to
this question introduces us to the position
occupied by Christ as the Substitute for
His people. The bap^tjsip at Jordan was
50

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

the dose of the private life and thQ^e-
gi lining of the public mimstry of Christ.
It was the formal assumption, so to speak,
of the position and oflice of Messiah. It
was to that office what anointing was to
the high-priest or the prophet. To those
who have not grasped this meaning in the
baptism of Jesus it must ever seem most
mysterious ; but what then took place
was Plis setting apart to His special work
as the Messiah of the Jews and the
Saviour of the world. For thirty years
He had already lived a life of common
duties and cares, labouring for a time in a
way that the Jews were wise enough to
feel was no dishono.ur to their noblest
men. It was needful for the completeness
of His humanity that He should have this
experience of common human life ; and
the singular humbleness of the lot which
He thus assumed is in keeping with the
no less singular silence regarding its
details in the word of God. The voice
which came from the Father at the baptism
51

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

was the testimony of Heaven to the per-
fect purity and stainless character of these
by-past years of toil, meeting the personal
testimony of John, "I have need to be
baptized of Thee." Jesus had been tested,
and is now approved in the region of
private life ; He knew and bore and
experienced this daily life of labour. And
one remembrance that ever comes back
to us out of the unrecorded details of His
life is the knowledge that He found Him-
self as near to God throughout it all as in
the solemn hours that followed.

But now He was to enter on the special
work for which He had become incarnate ;
from henceforth He was not merely a
carpenter and the son of a carpenter ; not
merely the Child of Mary and the cousin
of John, but the Messiah, as standing
openly before God on behalf of men, to
bear their burden, to suffer their penalty,
and to win them to God. He begins by
identifying Himself with them and taking
their place at Jordan. He who had no
52

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

sin of His own takes the place of His
people in baptism, occupies for a time
the position of a sinner, and submits to be
baptized. In order to furnish Him for the
ministry which has now begun, the Holy
Spirit descends upon Him and abides in
fulness, permeating His entire being, so
that every word and work done by Him in
time to come is done in the power of the
Holy Ghost.

The second and third interviews of
John with Jesus take place, as has been
said already, after the temptation in the
wilderness is over. _ Jesus, returns in the
power_ of the Spirit, and on His way to
Galilee visits John, who is still surrounded
with his many disciples, and is baptizing.
John descries Him in the crowd. What is
most singular in the interview is, that
there is no record of any speech between,
the two. But John " seeth Jesus coming
unto him and saith. Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the
world" (St. John i. 29). Again, the next
53 "^^

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

day John sees Him again in the crowd,
and turning to two disciples who were
standing with him, points with his finger
to Jesus as He walks, and says, " Behold
the Lamb of God" (St. John i. 35, 36).
One of the two was Andrew, Simon
Peter's brother; the other, who is nojt
named, we gather to be John the Evan-
gelist, son of Zebedee. They leave the
Baptist and quietly follow the footsteps of
Jesus as He walks. He then, apparently
having left the crowd, turns and asks them
why they are following, and they, appa-
rently taken somewhat aback at the ques-
tion, reply by asking Him where He is
lodging. It is the Lord's method of
opening an important conversation with
them. Lie invites them to come with
Him and see ; they accept the invitation,
and go along with Him, conversing on the
way. Entering the humble house where
for the time He has His dwelling, they
continue in fellowship with Him, sweet,
though unrecorded, till it is too late to
54

FORERUNiYER AND MARTYR

leave, and they are asked to pass the night
beneath His roof. It is most strange that
we do not learn whether the Baptist him-
self visited Jesus that evening and took
part in the holy converse; but it is a
symbol of his whole life and work that
he pointed these disciples away from
himself unto Christ. He had been the
voice in the wilderness, and now he is
the finger-post to point to Jesus.

Just before these later interviews a re-
markable event had taken place in the life
of John. Stirred by the marvels of his
life and ministry, the priests and Levites
in Jerusalem had sent to him a formal
deputation of their own number to ask
for a public declaration of his position
and claims. No such event occurs in the
history of any of the Hebrew prophets.
The position of Moses on going to meet
Pharaoh is the only one that can be com-
pared with it. The question which the
deputies asked John was whether he
claimed to be the Messiah. In a manner
55

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

as solemn as their question his answer is
recorded : " John confessed, and denied
not ; and he confessed, / ant not the
Christr They then asked whether he
were EHjah ; and to that question he also
answered, No. They asked again whether
he were the prophet, possibly meaning
Jeremiah^ (see St. Matt. xvi. 14), who was
then expected by the Jews to return, but
again he answered, No. They asked him
then to tell them in so many words what
he claimed to be, that they might report
it to the Sanhedrin. He answered that he
claimed to be the fulfilment of the prophecy
of Isaiah, *' I am the voice of one crying in
the wilderness. Make straight the way of
the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet."
They then challenged him on the subject
of baptism, which was obviously a great
perplexity to them all, asking what it
meant and by what authority he did it.

^ So most commentators. But it is worth con-
sidering whether " the Prophet like unto Moses "
(Deut, xviii. 18) is not meant.

5^^

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

The answer made to this inquiry does not
attempt to justify or even to explain his
own position, save to state that it is that
of a forerunner only. He compares him-
self to One who is already among them,
whom they do not recognize, and indicates
that it is in preparation for His higher
and more spiritual work that he is baptiz-
ing men. And in doing so he takes the
opportunity of giving a further and remark-
able testimony to Christ;: " I baptize with
water ; in the midst of you standeth One
whom ye know not, even He that cometh
after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am
not worthy to unloose" (St. John i. 26)./
The meaning of the declaration will be
considered in the next chapter.

^1

CciP 6 HIS LATER TEACHING

''It abode upon Hi/n."—S>T. John i. 32.

THOUGH the whole ministry of the
Baptist did not probably exceed
six months, yet there is a great and mani-
fest advance from his earlier teaching,
which has been already considered, to
that which was given by him in the later
months of his ministry. The difference
is, indeed, a very remarkable one, and
what at once enhances and explains it is
the fact that the difference is traceable to
what occurred at the baptism ot Jesus.
From that day it is no longer repentance,
confession, and baptism which form the
burden of John's addresses. His later
teaching turns entirely upon Jesus the
Christ.

To begin with (and the remark is ap-

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

plicable both to the earher and the later
addresses), what the Baptist did not teach
is ahnost as striking as what he did
What shall we say to the fact that, while
dwelling so much upon sin and upon
duty, he never directly refers to the law
of Moses? What shall we say to the
further fact that he, priest as he was,
makes no reference whatever to any of
the sacrifices of the Law ? What shall we
say to the fact that, though leading his
disciples to fast, he makes no allusion to
the great fast on the Day of Atonement ?
What shall we say to the fact that, in the
remains of his teaching which we possess
there is not so much as an allusion (by
name at least) to the precious volume of
inspiration of which we can see he made
personally so much use ? These questions
present a problem, almost a riddle, de-
manding some solution, and pointing to
some great truth behind. The solution
which I venture to offer is threefold. On
the one hand, I take it to mean that he
59

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

was gifted with the more than prophetic
insight which enabled him to see the
substance of the truth which lay behind
all the preparatory shadows of the Law ;
on the other hand, his eye had become
so fixed upon the person of Christ, first
in prospect and then in advent, first as
expected and then as having come, that
everything else disappeared in that light ;
and, thirdly, he occupied an entirely inter-
mediate position between the two dispen-
sations, belonging actually to neither of
them, but preparing the way from the
one to the other. Whatever may be said
of the solution, the facts remain, forminsf
one of the most notable characteristics of
the teaching of John.

As regards his positive teaching after
the baptism of Jesus, it partakes almost en-
tirely of the character of testimony to
Christ. The first part of his career is that
of the forerunner who prepared the way ;
the second is that of the witness who gave
testimony to the great Light which had
come into the world.
60

FORE RUNNER AND MARTYR

I. The Baptist then seized and set
forth fully the spiritual character of Mes-
siah's n^ission. Looking back on the Old
Testament prophecies, it is not easy even
for us to say what they indicate as the
special object which the Messiah was to
accomplish. We can see the two lines of
prophecy, one, represented by the fifty-third
chapter of Isaiah and the ninth chapter of
Daniel, setting forth that He was to suffer
and die in connection with sin ; the other,
represented by many passages in Isaiah
and the Psalms, setting forth His royal
state and government ; but it is evident to
all who think upon these statements how
difficult it must have been beforehand to
define what the Messiah was to be and to
do when He came. Indeed, it could not
have been defined by any human wisdom.
But John, enlightened by that Holy Spirit
of whom he was also to testify, at once
seized on and preached the cardinal doc-
trine that Messiah's mission was a spiritual
one, and that a man's preparation for it
was to become personally right with God.
6i

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

It is from this point onwards that the
wonderful inspiration of God in the Bap-
tist leads him to set forth, with a clearness
quite amazing, most of the leading doc-
trines of the Gospel. While John and
Peter were still fishermen in Galilee, the
Baptist was already preaching almost all
that is vital in the Gospel of the one and
the epistles of both.

2. How clear and unmistakable, for
instance, is his testimony to the dignity^
the pre-existence, and evett the Deity of
Christ. " Whose shoe's latchet I am not
worthy to unloose " — there is His mys-
terious dignity. He was so great a Master
that John was not worthy to become His
household slave ! " After me cometh a
Man which is preferred before me, for He
was before me "(St. John i. 30); again ^'He
cometh from above," and "He that cometh
from heaven is above all " (St. John iii.
31). These statements anticipate Paul's — •
"Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He
became poor" (2 Cor. viii. 9) ; and they
occupy the very ground of our Lord's own
62

FORERUNiVER AND MARTYR

saying, which so startled the Jews, " Before
Abraham was, I am " (St. John viii. 38). If
we ask how John could have seen before-
hand such a truth, the answer is, By the
illumination of the Hbly Spirit alone. But
that illumination seems to have used two
passages in the Old Testament : " The
Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come
to His temple, even the Angel of the cove-
nant, whom ye delight in" (Mai. iii. i, R.V.
margin), a passage which implies that He
had pre-existed long before His earthly
appearance. The other passage is in
Isaiah (ix. 6), where the Child who is to
be born is also called ''the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of
peace." At all events, John's testimony
to the pre-existence of Christ is direct,
precise, and unmistakable.

Nor should there be any doubt that the
testimony given by John after the baptism
of Jesus conveys his belief in the Divinity
of Him who had come as Messiah : " I
have seen and have borne witness that
this is the Son of God " (St. John i. 34),
63

JOHN: THE BAPTIS7'

that is the Son, not one of many, the only
One, the *' only-begotten of the Father."

3. We come next to what is perhaps
the most remarkable, though the most
simple, of all the utterances of the Baptist
" He seeth Jesus coming unto him, and
saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world" (St. John
i. 29). It is vain to attempt to limit the
meaning of these words to the personal
cliaracter and purity of Jesus. There
might have been some force in such an
attempt had the first part of the declaration
not been followed by the second, had
Jesus been pointed out only as the " Lamb
of God." But the conclusion of the
statement throws a clear light on the
meaning of the early portion of it, as un-
questionably pointing to the sacrificial
character of the Lamb. Only in that
capacity could it be said that He taketh
away the sin (or, as the R.V. margin gives
it, beareth the sin) of the world. The
Lamb, God's Lamb, God's Lamb that
taketh away sin, could have to the Jews
64

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

who listened only one meaning, especially
as spoken by a priest. They at once recall
such words as those used of the scapegoat
on the Day of Atonement, " The goat shall
bear upon him all their iniquities unto a
solitary land " (Lev. xvi. 22), and also such
words as Isaiah spoke of the Messiah,
" He humbled Himself . . . as a
lamb that is led to the slaughter," (Isa.
liii. 7) ; " We did esteem Plim stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted, but He
was wounded for our transgressions ; He
bare the sin of many" (vers. 4, 5, 12).
It was inevitable that the young priest
should regard the priestly side of Divine
truths everywhere in the world, and thus
intend a precise and definite meaning in
such words used by him.

Nor is it without force that he so desig-
nates Jesus as the Lamb after the position
has been accepted by public baptism,
when He was, so to speak, " set apart "
as the Lamb for the Passover. According
to the direction (Exod. xii. 3, 6), four days
before the Passover the lamb was to be
65 E

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

set apart in the house. We have here,
then, the death of Christ and atonement
by means of His blood preached by John
ere the Master had called a single disciple.
" It is the blood that maketh atonement "
(Lev. xvii. ii); and the descendant of the
house of Aaron points out the " Lamb of
God, that taketh away the sin of the
world." The first theme of John's later
preaching was Calvary.

4. This brings us to another part of
the later teaching of the Baptist, which we
must not pass altogether without notice.
It is the clear conception which John
seems to have gained of the doctrine of
the Trinity. At the baptism of Jesus this
doctrine is first fully unfolded for us in
Scripture, and perhaps nowhere is it
more simply or more fully set forth. Yet
what we read of John saw and heard !
The heavenly voice declared Jesus to be
the Son of God— "My beloved Son."
And John entered at once into the mean-
ing of the truth so revealed : " I beheld
and bare witness that this is the Son of
66

FORERUNXER AND MARTYR

God " (St. John i. 34). We know what the
Jews thought of this title : " Say ye of
Him whom the Father hath sanctified
and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest,
because I said, I am the Son of God ? "
(St. John X. 36). This, too, was the climax
of the disciples' faith ; this was Martha's
confidence (St. John xi. 27) ; and this was
Peter's confession (St. Matt. xvi. 17), which
"flesh and blood" had not taught, but
which the Father had revealed to him.
Long before, John had testified what Peter
had thus learnt; and he had done so
surely in the sense which the Jews at-
tached to the words.

And as the Father and Son were re-
vealed to him, so the descent of the
Holy Spirit is clearly seen by him. " The
bodily shape " which the unseen Spirit of
God had assumed was only the outward
manifestation of Him who was one with
Father and with the Son. The third note
of John's later teaching, then, was the truth
of the Holy T?'mity.

5. And, once more, perhaps the most
67

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

wonderful item of all the truth which fell
from the lips of the Baptist is that which
still remains to be noticed. A special
revelation had come to him, appointing a
sign by which he should recognize the
Messiah and know one of His chief
functions. , " He that sent me to baptize
with water, He said unto me, Upon
whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit de-
scending and abiding upon Him, the same,
is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit'']
(St. John i. T^2))' There is no doubt that
this is the word of the Baptist himself.
In what sense did he understand his own
words? No doubt, the key is to be
found in the rite which John himself ob-
served. He " baptized with water " ; he
did symbolically what Jesus was to do in
reality. He set forth in type the need of
purification, and how it was to be done.
But the power to do for the soul of man
what water does for the body lay with the
Holy Ghost. And the gift of Him who
possessed that power lay with Jesus
68

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

Christ. No other sense can be put upon
John's words. And John recognized that
the gift of the Spirit to Him ''without mea-
sure " (St. John iii. 34) was a preliminary
to His baptizing others. This may be
called the highest and deepest truth com-
mitted to John the Baptist as a teacher.
It was utterly unknown to the Apostles till
the day of Pentecost. And the reason
may be that they only then received that
gift which John possessed all his life. He
knew what it meant, because he had it.
No man knows it till then. John stands
alone in all previous history in knowing
this. Perhaps he only of the men of Scrip-
ture sees that this is the crowning charac-
teristic of the work of Messiah. Even now
the Church of Christ hardly knows what
is meant ; is disputing over it, because
it does not practically possess it. John
preached not only Calvary, and faith,
and the Holy Trinity : he preached also
Pentecost, and the relation of Jesus
Christ to the wondrous gift then bestowed
69

Cap 7

JOHN'S

IMPRISONMENT

^' In kings' hoiises.^^—ST. Matt. xi. 8.

IT is difficult to realize — and probably
few do so — that the whole ministry
of John occupied only a few months in
all, and had practically closed when the
public ministry of Jesus Christ began.
St. Matthew tells us (iv. 12, 17) that Jesus
did not go into Galilee nor begin to
preach till He had heard of John's im-
prisonment. St. Mark (i. 14) says that it
was after John was put in prison that
Jesus came into Galilee. St. John (iii.
23, 24) apparently means that after the
miracle at Cana Jesus was at Jordan with
certain disciples baptizing those who came
to Him, that the numbers who were at-
70

FORERUNXER AND MARTYR

tracted to Him were even greater than had
gone to the Baptist, and that this took place
before the imprisonment of the latter.
From these various statements put to-
gether, we gather that Matthew and Mark
are speaking of the Galilean ministry of
Christ in general, while John is referring
to the single visit to Cana. At all events,
the ministry of John, as we have said,
practically closed as the ministry of Christ
began. The work of the forerunner
ended when the Master Himself ap-
peared. We are thus enabled to say how
long John preached. He was six months
older than Christ. By the Law priests
were not allowed to officiate in public till
thirty years of age. The Lord began (St.
Luke iv. i) when He was thirty. So that
John's whole ministry lasted only for six
months. At the close of this period there
was one man who had not been able to
join the crowds at the Jordan, but whose
longing to hear the preacher could no
longer be resisted. It was Herod the
71

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

Tetrarch himself (St. Mark vi. 20). Living
in great state and luxury, which he had
imported from Rome, and generally to be
found at Tiberias, on the lake of Galilee,
not far from one of the sites where John is
supposed to have preached, he sent for the
Baptist, that he might see and hear him.
He had already " observed him," and was
satisfied that he was " a just man and a
holy " ; and having a general knowledge
of the subject of his preaching, he sent for
him to the palace. We naturally, I think,
ask, Was Herod not afraid to take such
a step ? Were his house so well ordered,
and his conscience so clear, that he could
welcome the sermon of a prophet of God ?
Lut rulers have easy consciences for the
most part, for they know that court
preachers seldom speak the language of
rebuke.

So for the first time, though not a man
"clad in soft clothing," the Baptist is in a
" king's palace." In the large hall, usually
devoted to banquets, dances, etc., he

FORERUxXNER AND MARTYR

speaks to the motley crowd. There sit the
Tetrarch, the princess, and her daughter ,
there are courtiers, ladies, pages, nobles,
soldiers, and servants ; they expect to hear
John's most eloquent sermon. And they
seem to hear it. For a time all goes well.
Sin is denounced ; conscience is put at
the bar ; repentance is urged ; the willing-
ness of God to forgive is made known ;
nay, the kingdom of heaven is at the very
door ! Every one is thrilled. It is solemn
preaching. The court listens in awe.
And Herod the Tetrarch, too— "he heard
him gladly."

Yes, but John's sermon is not yet
done. He has been speaking of sin in
general and the sin of various classes of
men. He has now something more to
say. He turns to Herod himself; and,
personally addressing him, asks aloud
who is that sitting by his side in the
gilded chair upon his left hand. It is
Herodias, his wife. Bis wife ? Nay, his
brother's wife — his brothers, who is living
73

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

not far away, from whom this woman
eloped to live with Herod the Tetrarch !
John pointed to her, and said, It is not
lawful for thee or for her ! That is thy
sin ! She must go back !

The meeting instantly broke up. What !
insult the princess and her daughter before
the court ! Does the preacher dare do
such a thing in such a presence? Yes,
for that was God's message ; John was
only a voice to speak it. If he were
brought into that palace, it was to tell the
truth, to rebuke sin, and to be faithful
both to his Master and to men. The
sermon comes to a sudden termination ;
Herod and his family instantly leave the
hall ; and John is left in the company of
the guard, a prisoner.

As might be expected, John's personal
rebuke of the Tetrarch resulted in his im-
mediate imprisonment ; but the position
seems to have been a very complicated
one, and it was made more so by the con-
tradictory elements found in the character
74

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

of Herod. Fear of the multitude, on the
one hand (St. Matt. xiv. 5), influenced him
largely; for John was regarded by them
as a prophet. A superstitious fear seems
also to have been at work within him,
leading him to shelter his prisoner from
the immediate vengeance of Herodias
(St. Mark vi. to). Incredible as it might
seem did we not know the strange work-
ings of a sinful soul, he sent more than
once for John to come out from his prison
to speak to him. He heard him again^
even " gladly," and " did many things," if
that be the right translation of the phrase ;
meaning that there were many minor
things which he was ready to correct or to
abandon, though he could not face the
full repentance which God and His
prophet demanded. Possibly even

* I confess, however, that, notwithstanding the
apparent authority of the R. V. ,Iam inclined to take
St. Mark vi. 20 as referring to a period before the
imprisonment of John, and meaning that Herod had
more than once heard him before his open rebuke.

75

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

Herodias feared that he might some day
be induced to take that final step !

I suppose that many in the present day
will take the part of Herodias, judging
that that was neither the lime nor place to
remonstrate. As if any time or place
were fitting in their eyes for a poor
preacher to do that ! But God's prophets,
men like the Baptist and men like the
Reformers (have we any like them still ?)
have their own views of faithfulness and
duty, to which they are prepared to ad-
here and for which they are willing to
suffer.

The scene of his imprisonment (as
Josephus tells us) was a castle called
Machaerus, on the east side of the Dead
Sea. It was another of the palaces of
Herod, given him by the father of his first
wife, King Aretas, in Arabia, and a
favourite residence, occupying the flat top
of a prominent hill, looking far west over
Jerusalem and Judcea. There, for a time
in comparatively easy bondage, he was
76

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

permitted to see friends, to hear news
from the outside, and to send messages
to whom he would. Had Herod at first
had his way when his passion boiled over,
John's life had been the forfeit. " Herod,
when he would have put him to death,
feared the multitude, for they counted
John as a prophet " (St. Matt. xiv. 5). He
was crafty and cautious, this "fox," as
Jesus called him (St. Luke xiii. 32). And
so he kept John in bonds.

Silence falls for a time over the prison-
house. In the Old Testament we are
permitted to enter the prison of Joseph
and learn many lessons there, without
which the Bible would be the poorer;
and even the days spent by Jeremiah in
his dungeon are not without a record.
So in the New Testament we see the
interior of a Philippian gaol, and how an
apostle and his friend spend there a mid-
night hour ; and from the damp Mam-
mertine dungeon at Rome we hear a
suggestive request in view of winter

n

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

and its cold. But of the Baptist's
prison at Machoerus there is nothing
said. The sohtude of the cell was
less than that of the "deserts," where
of his own accord he had lived so long.
He had with him the companionship
of a good conscience. But this silence
came after busy months of labour and
of testimony. The strong man, whose
soul was full of the truth of God and of
burning words, had lost his opportunities
of usefulness. He had lost them for ever ;
his work was over. God needed him no
more. In all the compass of Holy Writ,
I know no one who could so fully take
home the humbling and salutary truth.
But to the enforced silence and useless-
ness his eager spirit must have submitted
with a double pang. He who had
rendered such noble service among the
crowds was now to be taught the harder
and higher lesson of being still and patient
in spirit before the Lord.

73

Cap 8

HIS DOUBT

''Art Thou He? ''—St. Matt. xi. 3.

TO the silence of the dungeon at
Machcerus there is an exception.
We hear of it once again before the end.
How long has passed we are not certain,
one year, possibly two. John has been
all but forgotten by the fluctuating crowd.
During a busy season, after sending out the
seventy disciples, the Lord receives a mes-
sage from the Baptist. "John had heard in
the prison the works of Christ " (St. Matt.
xi. 2). Some disciples had been permitted
to enter, and they told him the wonderful
story of what was going on in Galilee
and in Judaea. What passed in the soul
of John as he listened we can only con-
jecture. No doubt the past would come
79

JOHN: 7HE BAPTIST

very vividly back to him, the far past as
well as that which was more recent : the
past of his mother's stories and his father's
song, the past of the open heaven and
the audible voice ; the past of his own
testimony, his own courage, his own faith,
his own expectation. Then there must
have risen m his soul with bitterness
the thought of his present uselessness :
"Seventy disciples sent out to preach in
the highways ; and I left alone, unworthy
to tell that Messiah has come ! Did I
not hear of that sermon at Nazareth
where Pie said that He had come to ' open
the prison-doors to them that are bound ' ?
Yet my prison-doors have not yet opened.
Has He forgotten that John the Baptist
lives ? ]\Iany months have passed since
I-Ie undertook the position of the Savioui
of men and of the hope of Israel. Can
I have made a mistake ? Is it after all
possible that He is not the expected One
but only a forerunner and a prophet like
myself?"

So

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

But the broken soliloquies of an im-
prisoned man who can conceive or
recount ? They are the deeper and the
darker in proportion as the fire and
energy burn strong within ; and they are
between the soul and God. This only
we know, that John can contain himself
no longer ; the silence is broken at last,
and two of these disciples go seeking for
Jesus with a message. " John the Baptist
hath sent us unto Thee, saying, Art Thou
He that cometh, or look we for another ? "
(St. Luke vii. 20.) It was a question of
doubt and darkness, well fitted to dis-
courage, if that were possible, Jesus of
Nazareth Himself. He seems to have
received it at first in silence. " In that
hour," says St. Luke, continuing the
narrative, " He cured many of diseases,
plagues, and evil spirits, and on many
that were blind He bestowed sight." It
is as if the Lord had plunged more deeply
into work to hide His disappointment,
while the two messengers joined the
81 F

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

twelve, and mutely followed His steps.
It seems as if He had relieved His heart
by opening more wddely the floodgates
of His love and mercy. Miracle after
miracle was done that day, as if the goings
forth of His power were a rest unto His
soul. And then, when the day's work was
over, and the quiet of the evening fell. He
turned to the two astonished messengers
and said, " Go back and tell John the
things ye have seen to-day : the miracles
of power and mercy, the healing of the
deaf, the raising of the dead, and the
good news of the Gospel preached to the
poor. And add " He said, " this word —
John will understand it — 'Blessed is he
whosoever shall find none occasion of
stumbling in Me ' " (ver. 23).

The message in one view seemed to
add to the difficulty rather than to lessen
it. John's real difficulty had been why
he was left. The power of miracles was
not entrusted to him, else, no doubt, like
Peter, his prison-door had opened to let
82

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

him free. And to hear that Jesus was so
prodigal of miracle that every needy one
who sought his feet was healed seemed
but to make it the harder and more
mysterious that none could be done for
John.

But the answer sent was the offer of a
hkssijig, if the Baptist were able to receive
it : " Blessed is he." It was the blessing
of the man who trusts and is not offended.
How many truths of deep and ever-
living meaning are contained in the short
word. There is, first, the implied truth
that no one could foretell the manner of
Messiah's working. God cannot be
anticipated, least of all in His deep
spiritual doings.

Secondly, there is the undisputed
sovereignty of God in all His ways. It
must be unquestioned of all, and especially
of all His workers. It is almost the
fundamental truth for every one who,
knowing God, would do His best work.

There is, thirdly, the wonderful fulfU-

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

ment of Old Testament prophecy in Isa.
XXXV. 5 : *' Then the eyes of the bUnd shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped ; then shall the lame man
leap as the hart, and the tongue of the
dumb shall sing, for in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert.'*' And the Lord's work had gone
beyond the tenor of the prophecy ; for
lepers had been cleansed, and the dead
had been raised. The two disciples must
have heard of what had taken place at
Nain, must have met many who had been
present ; possibly they had seen the young
man who had been raised from his bier,
for part of the message was, " The dead
are raised up." And John, who knew so
well the prophecy of Isaiah, " Say to
them that are of a fearful heart " (or, as the
margin gives it, '' of a hasty heart "), would
recognize that he had his answer in the
prophet's olden word.

But, fourthly, the answer of the Lord
meant more. He continually appealed to
H

FORERUf^\YER AND MARTYR

His miracles as proof of His Divine
mission. " Many believed on His name
when they saw the miracles which He did"
(St. John ii. 23), and John, who himself
did none, would understand the teaching.

Fifthly, another testimony was to be
found in preaching to the poor the Gospel
of God's love and of man's salvation. It
was the fulfilment of Isaiah's other word,
" The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, be-
cause the Lord hath anointed Me to
preach good tidings unto the meek " (mar-
gin, the poor) (Isa. Ixi. i). Not the truth
without miracles, nor miracles without the
truth ; the Lord showed Himself by means
of both. And the power of the sign was
shown in order that the truth might reach
the hearts of men.

But, sixthly, perhaps the most important
part of the message is Christ's appeal to
John to trust Him. Here He offers a
blessing to those who, being tried, are not
offended. There is much temptation to
be offended 3 there is suffering often to
S5

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

be endured for His sake ; there is shame
in the sight of men; there is the impu-
tation of folly ; there is our utter failure
to understand the meaning of God's
mysterious ways. His methods often
seem contrary to those of worldly wisdom.
And when men endure and lose all for
Him, it is trying far beyond description to
suppose that He has forgotten them. But
this very trial and the darkness of it are a
great part of their best discipline. The
finer the gold, the longer it is kept in the
purifying flame; the larger the soul, the
more difficult the task ; the more ad-
vanced the scholar, the more complicated
the lesson. He who is to become a
martyr has much to learn before. John
could not have stood where he is to-day
had he not learned this lesson too, how
to suffer, be still, and murmur not at God.
One of the last things we submit to God
is the intellect which questions ; it often
lags behind the will which is given to God.
And so submission is blessing; as well as
86

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

wisdom. We never know what is in God
for us till we have put the last treasure
into His hands. The Baptist was to
learn that his dungeon and his darkness
were the crowning mercy here, the last
test of faith, the last touch of fire upon
the soul. He was nearly ready now.
"Blessed is he " — the Baptist, his disciples,
we also, every soul — '•' whosoever shall not
be offended in Me."

87

Cap 9

HIS MARTYRDOM

" Give me the head of JoJaj'''~Si. Mark vi. 25.

AT the age of thirty years the work of
John was over, and his life about to
close. Not unfrequently have the tyrants
of this world made the lives of men the
playthings of passion ; but seldom has a
miserable lordling had such a stake to play
for and such a jewel to fling into the
ditch as Herod of Galilee.

It was his birthday (or perhaps his ac-
cession day) that became the occasion of
the crime. Residing for the time at his
southern palace, the *' black fortress"
of Machcerus, Herod assembled the
noblemen, military officers, and chief men
of hi::! province at one of those banquets
S6

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

which he had learned so well how to cele-
brate when sojourning in Rome. The
Emperor Tiberius, who was then on the
throne, spent much of his fortune, and still
more of his time, in those ungodly revels
which history has made famous. Mere
animal luxury and refined appetite then
reached their climacteric, and men ex-
hausted the sources of wealth and power
in solving the problem whether such things
could make them happy. Herod had been
a courtier of the baser sort in the halls of
the Palatinate, and it was such a banquet
as he had seen at his imperial master's
table that he now spread before the as-
tonished captains of Galilee. The hall
was hung with flowers, the music throbbed
from time to time throughout the feast,
the strong wines of Italy and Cyprus were
not spared, and songs and ribald laughter
filled up the intervals. It was a company
of ifien, for at that time no women were
permitted to sit down at the table.

But when the feast itself was over, there
89

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

had been introduced the custom of seeing
women dance. In mimetic performances
without words well-known mythological
stories were represented by professional
dancers. Here, in Herod's palace, there
entered, amid the heated and noisy com-
])any, Salome, the daughter of Herodias,
then, or shortly to be, the wife of one of
Herod's brothers ; and she, violating every
rule of the day, alone, with garland and
flowers, to the sound of a pipe, danced
before them all. Herod himself, in his
drunken state, was delighted beyond
measure, and stammered out a promise to
give her anything she might ask^yes, he
repeated, with an oath, to give her whatever
she might ask, were it "half of his king-
dom." She glided out of the chamber to
again consult her mother, and returning
amid the noisy applause of the guests,
begged that she might receive at once,
without any delay, " the head of John the
Baptist," served upon a dish. The plot
had been arranged beforehand ; the
90

FOREKUNA'ER AND MARTYR

daughter waived her own opportunity to
gratify her mother's vengeance against the
hated prophet of Jordan. "Give me the
head of John the Baptist."

The request sobered Herod in a mo-
ment. The laugh of the guests died away
when they saw his face whitened with
emotion as he clenched his hand and
shrank back in his chair. What ! the
head of John, the son of Zacharias ? Yes ;
Herodias and her daughter will take
nothing else !

Was it conscience that smote him then
with still power enough to make him
tremble, though not to bar the way of sin ?
This weak and passionate ruler had in all
his miserable life heard only one voice
that touched something in the depths of
his soul and opened up a vision of what
might have been ; and this was the voice
of the man whom he was doomed to slay.
But one string was left upon the broken
harp of life which had been made to
sound God's praises ; and that string
91

JOHN: THE BAPTIS7

vibrated only to the words of the preacher
of Jordan. He was the only man Herod
respected, the only man whom, in the
better sense, he feared; and it was he
whom the wretched girl forced him to
destroy !

For, like a wild beast, he was taken
in the toils. Sin had cast its net round
him ; Satan and these women held
him fast. He feared his oath ; he feared
his captains ; he was a coward at heart :
and between the two fears — the fear of
conscience and the fear of man — he gave
way. The order was passed to the
governor of the castle that Salome should
have her ghastly dish to crown his anni-
versary feast.

Into the dungeon itself and the scene
transacted there the sacred writers give
no glimpse. With its usual reticence as
to deathbed scenes, Scripture tells us no-
thing. The event is left in silence. Yet
who can refrain from picturing to himself
something of what took place ? In such

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

Strong men as John, the tide of Hfe flows
full ; and in him there was strength yet
unexpended, power of work, possibility of
service, both for man and God. Very
darkly the mystery had already fallen
round him, and the whisper come that
probably his time was over and his last
message given. He had learned the les-
son of humility before ; now he had to
learn submission. God waited till that
was taught ; there was no further need for
delay. And so on that spring night, when
the early shadows fell deep on the prison
floor ; at an unaccustomed hour, the door
of the cell opened to admit, not only the
usual guard, but a darker stranger by his
side. There was not much more time
than just to look death in the face ; a few
minutes measured at once the shock of
surprise and the pain of the keen-cutting
sword ; and he who had been schooHng
his heart to say, " Even so," to God's will,
knelt among angels, who welcomed one
greater than themselves. The passage was
93

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

short, if dark, and it opened like a door
into that heavenly glory for which the
earthly sunset was exchanged. Perhaps
Herod suffered as much as John in that
short half- hour.

But Salome and the guests are waiting
in constrained silence ; " the king's com-
mand required haste." The last dish ap-
pears at the feast ; John the Baptist's head
is brought on its silver platter and handed
to the damsel. She took up the charger
and brought it to her mother. Mother
and daughter in their private chamber
regaled themselves with the awful sight,
the nerves hardly still and the eyes open
in death. Dare they look upon it ? It was
their doing ; they had their wish. Were
they — and is any sinner — satisfied when
the deed of sin was done ?

Certain disciples of John who still
lingered about his prison heard the sad
news, and with bold hearts, but reverent
hands, they wrapped up the poor remains
of what was yesterday their master, buried
94

FORERUiVNER AND MARTYR

them on the slope of that eastern hill,
and then with burdened spirits went,
where all mourners should go, to tell
Jesus. Perhaps they were the same who
had but lately come with the Baptist's
message ; now in their sorrow they re-
membered how the one teaching of John
from the beginning was, "I am not He,
but He standeth among you." Doubt-
less they found from that hour another
Master.

They came and told Jesus. He knew
it already, and we are not told what He
said. Sorrow for John He scarcely could.
Could any of us grieve for the holy dead
if we knew the exchange they have made,
if we heard the song they are singing,
and saw the sights they are seeing ?
What must the Lord have thought of the
Baptist's change ? Thou hast finished
the course, and kept the faith ; the king-
dom of heaven after all was nearer than
thou didst know.

And Herod ? Well, I think next morn-
95

JOHN : THE BAPTIST

ing Herod was neither proud nor happy.
He had provided another sting for con-
science, another blot on memory, another
thorn for his pillow, another terror for
death. Afterwards, when the fame of
Jesus and of His wonderful miracles
spread abroad, some said, *' It is Elias " ;
others said, " It is Jeremiah " ; others
again said, " a new prophet had come " ;
but Herod, when he heard, said, *' No ; it
is John., whom I beheaded : he is risefijrom
the dead." And, like a wraith in the
night, that thought followed Herod as
long as he lived.

96

C- Ills CHARACTER

n.p 1 O AND POSITION

*' There hath itot arisen a greater."

—St. Matt, xi, ii.

THE personal characteristics of the
Baptist have necessarily been fre-
quently referred to in the preceding pages.
His fearlessness we have seen in the
sermon which cost him his liberty and
then his life; his force was seen in the
influence which shook the nation and
remained long after he had passed away ;
his zeal was like a fire burning in his
bones. " What went ye out for to see ? a
reed shaken by the wind ? " Was this a
man driven to and fro by every wind of
doctrine, looking for the verdict or the
applause of men? Verily, no. '' But
what went ye out for to see ? a man clothed
97 a

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

in soft raiment ? Behold, they that wear
soft clothing are in kings' houses." Was
John the type of the self-indulgent priest,
preaching a gospel which he did not
practise, seeking to reach eternal life
without privation or sacrifice? Not so.
" But what went ye out for to see ? a pro-
phet ? Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet " — " a prophet," for he had
a Divine message for the whole world ;
'•more than a prophet," for not only
did he foresee the Lord like Abraham and
David, but, like John the Apostle, he could
say, " That which we have heard, which
we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the Word of life declare we
unto you" (i John i. i).

Yet from such things in John we turn
to one other characteristic in which he
excels all men in Holy Writ — I mean
his wonderful humility ; for the humility
of such a man, a man of such power,
influence, and character, is the rarest of

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

human qualities. But for its measure
and manifestation in John we must have
recourse to the words of Paul. "He
reckoned himself dead indeed " ; he
"bore about in his body a continual
dying " ; he " bore in his body the marks "
(the sfigm a fa) "of the Lord Jesus." He
was the body-slave — nay, he was not
worthy to be the body-slave — of Jesus
Christ. His joy was not only to point to
JesuSj but to point away from himself to
Him. He had to preach not only Christ's
greatness, but his own littleness, in order
that men might understand the other.
He was not content to say, " He must
increase," but must add, "and I must
decrease." When asked by the deputa-
tion from the Pharisees who he was, his
answer was, " A voice," a message, nay,
not a message, but only the sound which
carried it. When the Carpenter of Naza-
reth stood before him, he said, " I have
need to be baptized of Thee," but he
must add, " and comest Thou to w^?" as

99

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

if he were the last that Christ should
come to. When two of his disciples were
standing to listen to him, one of them
Andrew of Bethsaida (known in these
later days as the St. Andrew of Scotland),
the other John son of Zebedee (known
since to the world as John the beloved
disciple of Patmos), the Baptist bade
them turn from himself and go with Jesus.
The greatest man in Palestine, in public
estimation stronger than Pilate or Herod,
more followed than high-priest or rabbi,
wished only to be nobody, and felt that
he was nothing. And was all this very
bitter to him, a constant grief, an inward
anguish ? Nay ! Speaking in a parable
(before Jesus did so), he pictures a mar-
riage-feast, the rejoicing company, the
veiled bride ; he draws his own portrait
there ; and he is not a man of tears, to
mar the gathering by untimely sorrow : he
too is full of joy. The joy of the Baptist
is to stand near Jesus the Bridegroom
and to hear Him speak.

PORBRUNNER AND MARTYR

All this has one explanation, and only
one. He had seen for himself the glory
of Jesus. He had seen it in the purity
and sweetness of His human character,
but that was not enough. God opened
his eye afterwards to see the glory of
Jesus as the Son of God, to see Him as the
Lamb that taketh away sin^ to see Him as
the Giver of the Holy Ghost. That sight
was enough to dwarf every human claim
and condemn every human excellence. It
was the story of Job repeated in a higher
fashion : " I had heard of Thee, . . .
but now mine eye seeth Thee." That
was enough. Self was nothing ; self was
dead. John was dead to sin and to self,
but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. It is
still the only secret of self- death and of
the new life.

" Yet he that is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he." So then John
did not himself enter the kingdom. He
heralded it; he blew the trumpet; he came
up to the gate ; he saw the King ; but it

lOI

fOHN: THE BAPTIST

was not permitted him to pass over the
threshold, and to partake of the special
privileges of those who are part of the
body of Christ. The mere difference in
knowledge is great — to have seen or read
of Calvary, and to understand what it
means. To have been at Pentecost, to
possess and to enjoy now the outpouring
and the fulness of the Holy Ghost, and
to see what is meant by this provision for
the world — these are things which were
impossible till the hour had come. Had
John lived for three years more, even had
he been a prisoner all the time, his posi-
tion then had been quite a different one,
even as the position he did hold was differ-
ent from that of Isaiah. But to every man
there is his own blessing. " That one
and the self-same Spirit divideth to every
man severally as He will." And none of
us dare say that the will of God is not
good ; least of all would he say it who
thought himself not worthy to tie the
latchet of his Master. And how much

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

less we, who, being "in the kingdom,"
have a higher post both of service and
reward than John himself !

His was a short but noble life.
" Through faith and patience he has in-
herited the promises." And over that hfe
there sounds, above all, the strange bene-
diction sent to him in prison : " Blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in
Me."

IP3

Cap

THE SOURCES AND THE

INFLUENCE OF HIS

1 1 TEACHING

'•' Was it from heaven?^'' — St. Luke xx. 4.

EFORE closing these pages we must
say a few words as to the sources
of the Baptist's teaching, so far as these
can be traced in the Old Testament, and
also as to the influence which it exerted
over the writers of the New.

The record of John's life and labours
occupies about i94yerses in the four Evan-
gelists (in Matthew, forty-seven ; in Mark,
twenty-eight ; in Luke, eighty-five ; and in
John, thirty-four). Of these only about
thirty report his words ; and hardly more
than half of these give us distinct and sep-
jirate utterances, the others being parallel^
104

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

passages in the different writers. YeJ^Jji
these eighteen or twenty verses we trace
something more than fifty references to
Old Testament statements, either in sub-
stance or form or both. In some, indeed
in most, instances, the connection is
distinct and unmistakable. Of these
more than forty are from the three pro-
pKetT Isaiah, Malachi, and Jeremiah.

About twenty passages from the book
of Isaiah are to be found giving colour to
John's utterances. The name by which he
calls the evil nation recalls the vipeis of
Isa. lix. 5 ; the "fleeing" from "the
wrath to come " has in view Isa. x. 3 ; the
" fruits meet for repentance " remind the
reader of Isa. iii. 10; the consolation felt
in being children of Abraham is but the
repetition of Isa. Ixiii. 16; the need of
purging in baptism is a different form of
the " Wash you, make you clean," of Isa.
i. 16; the fan and the threshing-floor
are echoes of Isa. xli. 16 and many
other passages of the prophet ; the axe
10:;

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

laid to the root of the trees recalls the
awful denunciations of Isa. xiv. ; the
warnings against exaction, and oppression,
and false fasting, remind us of Isa. Iviii.
6, 7 ; the Lamb that taketh away sin is
referred to in Isa. liii. 7, ii; the Spirit
" remaining " is found in Isa. xi. 2 ; the
" Bridegroom " of the Church is in Isa.
Ixii. Of the verses which comprise the
sayings of the Baptist, I have quoted
eleven which bear marked traces of the
study of Isaiah.

But the influence is almost as strong in
the case of Jeremiah; he too is suggested at
every turn. Possibly the one prophet him-
self bears the impress of his more ancient
brother, who flourished generations before
him. J3ut there is much more than this,
for nothing can be more distinct than the
spirit of Isaiah the fervid from that of
Jeremiah the tender and sorrowful. And
it is the spirit of each of them, even more
than the words, that we find in the Baptist.
The image of the fan is a favourite one
ic6

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

with Jeremiah, found more than once in
his writings, and in xv. 7 it is employed
exactly as John uses it : to signify the
sifting of God's people. vSo the address,
" O generation ! " seems to have origi-
nated with Jeremiah (ii. 31). F?'uit^ as
the outcome of life, and the name for it as
distinguished from works, is found (xvii.
io;vi. 19; xxi. 14; xxxii. 19). The "axe
being laid to the root of the tree, which is
hewn down and cast into the fire," was
applied by Jeremiah to the unprofitable in
Israel (vii. 20; xi. 16, 19). So, too, the
wonderful thought of God as the Husband
of Israel is found in ii. 23. And these
similarities of thought and diction are not
to be looked at only in themselves, but as
placed in the setting of Jeremiah's posi-
tion and character, who more than any
other perhaps was the " man of sorrows "
among the prophets of Israel, and Hved
in a rejection and a loneliness which came
specially home to the Baptist John.

There is, however, another line of
107

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

thought which I must very shortly open
up, somewhat similar to that which has
occupied us in this chapter — I mean the
influence exerted by the teaching of the
Baptist on those who came after him, as
recorded in the New Testament. And
here we must tread with much reverence
and caution, for the traces which we find
most abundantly are in the teacliings of
our blessed Lord Himself. Of .CQUIse the
Lord could be indebted to no man, for
He was the Teacher, and, through the
Spirit, was Himself the Inspirer, of the
Word. But there is another sense in
which He may have used men to pave
the way for His own teaching, enabling
them to utter more imperfectly some
aspects of the truths on which He was
Himself to dwell. And this we find to
be the case with John. He was made to
prepare the way in this respect also, and
no doubt this is the explanation of what
we find in the Gospels.
Some of the images already noted as
1 08

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

suggested to John by Isaiah and Jeremiah
are afterwards employed by the Lord.
" The generation of vipers " is twice
spoken of by Him (St. Matt. xii. 34 ; xxiii.
33) ; the " fruit " of the Hfe is named by
Him (St. Matt. vii. 16, 17), as it is also by
St. Paul (Gal. v.) ; and " the branch that
beareth not fruit " is to be " hewn down
and cast into the fire " (St. John xv. 2, 6").

But there are other instances more pre-
cise and more striking.

I. It surely must count for something
that the rite employed by John so promi-
nently (though not for the first time)
should be one \vliich Jesus Christ after-
wards instituted as one of the two sacra-
mental signs in His Church. I am quite
bearing in mind that He used it in a
deeper and in a different sense, hut He
used it ! Already duringHis Hfetime He
had given directions to His discij)lesjthat
they should baptize, which they had done
largely and with great effect (St. John
V. i\ This must have been a^aptism of
109

JOHN: THE BAPTIST

repentance and purging, and it is the link
between the rite of John and the sacra-
ment of the Master.

2. In like manner the exhortation to
repentance, both ini_ the thought and^in
the word, must not escape our notice.
With this, as has been referred to in a pre-
vious chapter, we are now so familiar that it
is difficult not to find it in the Old Testa-
ment as well as in the New. Were it only
the word repentance ^ used once in all the
Septuagint, used in New Testament, I
think, sixty-three times of man, eleven
times being in St. Luke, and almost all of
these by the Lord, we can see how John's
opening trumpet-blast of warning has been
perpetuated by our Lord for the benefit of
men.

3. A third phrase or title which our
Lord found in St. John's words, and was
pleased to use Himself, is that of the
Bridegroom of His Church, not coined

* The verb is used in Old Testament Greek
twelve times of God and six times of man.
no

FORERUNNER AND MARTYR

by the Baptist, as we have seen aheady,
but selected by him from the stores of
Old Testament language, and immediately
thereafter repeated by Christ (see St. Mark \

/ii. 19; St. :\Iatt. ix. 15, xxv. i, 5, 6, 10; /

( St. Luke V. 34).

4. So, too, the Baptism of the Spirit,
the remarkable and peculiar phrase which
John for the first_.tiine ..j^iiBloyed _to
denote the Pentecostal blessing, is the
very name J)y^^vhich our Lord prefers to
designate it. in His closing^ jjateiview with
His apostles (Acts i. 5).

5. But of all the phrases and thoughts
employed by John, and accepted by the
Lord Jesus as a fitting expression of the
great truths He desired to convey, the
most important, undoubtedly, is that of
thejdngdom of heaveii^ or the kingdom of
God. It is, indeed, the characteristic
phrase of the Lord, the name by which
continually and prominently He speaks
of that which He came to establish on the
earth. It rang out, practically for the

JOHN: Tim BAPTIST

first time, in the opening words of John :
" Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." In the Gospels alone the two
phrases kingdojii of heave7t and kingdom
of God occur no fewer than eighty-three
times, almost always in the lips of the
Lord Himself. And what adds to the
wonder of it is that after His death and
ascension the former disappears from the
New Testament almost wholly, and the
latter is but rarely found there. The
whole subject is one of great interest ; and
attention has of late been largely called to
it. Here I can only point to its close
connection with the teaching and the
influence of John the Baptist.

Hutljr ^x; Tanner, The Sehvood Pi-iiuin^ Works, Fiome.

BS2456 .C97

John: the Baptist, forerunner & martyr.

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